Saturday, 26 May 2018

Trailing Spouse

As it’s a holiday weekend I jumped at the chance to accompany James on one of his Friday business trips to Warwick. We would then stay overnight at the Ardencote and spend Saturday together. He warned me sternly that I must be completely ready to leave the house at 5.30 a.m. and so I was. Glasgow airport was busy due to the holiday but security was very efficient and processed us through without any delay. There were lots of groups who were on their way to stag and hen weekends; they were recognisable by their matching t shirts - for example “Super Danny’s Berlin Stag 18” and the girls’ groups usually included a bride wearing a veil. It reminded me of Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings.”
We ran into Graeme who was on his way to India on business for six weeks. When we told him that I was tagging along on James’ business trip he explained that the ex-pat terminology for that is “trailing spouse.” I like that phrase!
When we arrived at Birmingham, we collected our hire car and James dropped me off at the Ardencote before going on to his meeting. I was delighted that our room was ready so I could get changed and go to the leisure centre straight away. And so I had a very pleasant and luxurious morning. The only slight disappointment was that it was raining (unlike back home in Scotland where it was still very warm and sunny) which meant that the outside pool was closed. I swam in the indoor pool, relaxed and read my book, and when James arrived in the afternoon we went to the huge and very hot outdoor jacuzzi.
And then to my delight the rain stopped and the outdoor pool was opened. I just love swimming outdoors and although the sky was grey it was still very warm. I had a great time.
Later we had a delicious dinner in the restaurant and finished off the evening with a drinks and chat with my dear husband in the Conservatory Bar. 

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